POMONA – Heartstrings are being pulled in every direction in the Don Schumacher Racing camp this weekend.

Crew members for both the NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car teams of Jack Beckman and Ron Capps are rooting for each other, even though the two are separated by only four points after the first day of the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals on Thursday at Pomona Raceway.

Beckman and Capps not only swapped crews, but they swapped cars in April after the fourth race of the season.

“Either way it’s good for DSR,” Capps’ crew chief Rahn Tobler said of the Don Schumacher Racing team. “I’ll be proud whichever way it goes.”

Tobler can become the first crew chief to win NHRA championships with three different drivers if Capps can overcome the four-point deficit.

“At times like this we’re not so close,” Tobler said. “We may not discuss things or exchange ideas quite as much as we do during the regular season. When the Countdown starts we go our separate ways. When push comes to shove, they’re still our teammates. Other than that, we kind of keep to ourselves and go up and run like were racing against John Force or anybody else.

“It’s always good to come into Pomona on Sunday and go for the championship.”

Tobler won three championships for Shirley Muldowney. The 58-year-old then won a title with Cruz Pedregon before joining Schumacher’s team in 2009. Last year he came within 72 points of winning that elusive fifth title, Beckman losing to Matt Hagan in eliminations on the final day.

“I’ve been doing this for 40-plus years.” Tobler said. “If you can’t be a contender year after year, then you should find something else to do.”

Tobler began the season as Beckman’s crew chief and the Valvoline team was third heading into the first Las Vegas race. Capps had Tim Richards as his crew chief for his NAPA team. When the Carlsbad resident failed to make the field, Richards was out with the team and Capps was eighth in points.

“Obviously NAPA is a very big sponsor for the whole DSR organization,” Tobler said. “This year is a contract year. Don needed to do something.”

But Tobler told Schumacher he did not want to start fresh with the NAPA crew. He wanted to use the same guys who had been with him since his Doug Kalitta and Pedregon days.

“When Don came to me on that Saturday and said they’re gone and you’re going to take this car over,” Tobler said. “I said, `Look the only way I’m going to get results right now is if Ron comes over here and brings his body and fire suit.’ I’ve been here a little over two years. I’ve grown our team and I’m not interested in starting over again with different people and different parts. He said, it was no problem.

“I had nothing against those guys and I didn’t want them to leave. I just told Don this was our best shot at being successful.”

Todd Smith was hired as Beckman’s crew chief and the teams traded car bodies. But Tobler`s crew took one of its spare cars and built it exactly like the one that Capps was now racing.

“That crew was like family,” Capps said. “It was difficult. It was a no-win situation for me. I felt more pressure in my career. If we went in to (the next race in Charlotte) and if it didn’t do well, then it was on me. That was a brutal two weeks for me mentally.

“It’s funny that a crew chief change happens all the time in NASCAR. It happened here and it was such a big deal. A lot of people were taking personal digs. It really upset me that so many people had no idea what was going on.”

Tobler said his team put the hand brake and throttle exactly where Beckman had it in his old car.

“We wanted to make sure Jack was comfortable and in a car just like us,” Tobler said.

Capps has made six finals and won five events since the switch-over. The defining moment was in June in New Jersey.

“We got to Englishtown and Tobler told me he was comfortable throwing a run out there,” Capps said. “He felt the car had a 3-second run. To me it felt like he had confidence in me to hang on to the car and get it down the track as best as I could.”

The car went 3.964, the quickest in NHRA history, although he failed to back-up the run for a national record. He lost in the finals.

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